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The third article on XCM takes a deeper look into its underlying design and execution model. Since XCM is based around the instruction set of the XCVM, a very high-level virtual machine, this amounts to becoming familiar with this machine architecture.

Polkadot founder Gavin Wood inspects one interesting aspect of XCM in-depth: how XCM can change over time without introducing breakage between the very networks it is meant to connect.

This primer on XCM, Polkadot's inter-chain messaging format is the first in a series of articles explaining what it does, how it works, how to use it, and what it could become.

By Bill Laboon, Director of Education and Community at Web3 Foundation Parachains are the diverse layer-1 blockchains that run in parallel on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. Parachains connect to Polkadot or Kusama by leasing a parachain slot on the Relay Chain. Apart from the slots for system parachains, which are reserved for functionality that benefits the ecosystem as a whole, projects wishing to obtain a parachain slot need to participate in one or more parachain slot auctions. The desig

A look at why candle auctions are the most suitable form for blockchain auctions, as seen in recent research done at the Web3 Foundation.

Nominating and validator selection are crucial parts of user interaction with Polkadot. This post presents background information on nominating and things to consider when selecting validators.

With the increase in the number of accounts nominating on Polkadot and Kusama, we have seen some limitations of the current staking parameters. In order to prevent issues from occurring when these limits are reached, some restrictions are being added to the staking system on both networks.

The first Kusama parachain slot auction has ended and the first parachains have successfully connected to the Kusama Relay Chain, delivering the last piece of core functionality outlined in the Polkadot whitepaper: purpose-built, interoperable parachains.

On 24 May 2021, Polkadot nodes failed with an out of memory (OOM) error on block 5,202,216. This block contained an on-chain solution to the validator election, which is normally computed off-chain and only takes place on-chain if no off-chain solution is submitted.

The staged launch of Polkadot is about to reach another chapter. As we approach the launch of parachain functionality and the auctions and crowd-loans behind them, let’s look at what’s coming.

Despite being a tough year for pretty much everyone (with the possible exception of Amazon and takeaways), the Polkadot network and community is coming out of 2020 with the wind very much behind its sails. So now that we’ve reached the end of 2020, for better or worse, let’s have a roundup of what we achieved and what we’re planning to do over the course of 2021… I tend to start these roundups with a few statistics, and this year seems no exception. Development has continued apace, with the Rus

Recently, changes occurred in relation to staking on Polkadot that caused some nominators not to receive their rewards. We are working on a permanent solution and suggest an immediate alternative here.